Huge development in medical tech this week

• A group of researchers in Mexico have found a cure for the Human Papillomavirus infection, the primary cause of cervical cancer
• Apparently it’s non-invasive, using a drug to photosensitize the infection and then light of specific wavelengths
• The treatment, which has been 20 years in the making, is shown to cure 100% of HPV patients without cancer and has been successful in over half the cases when patients already have cervical cancer- even if they don’t have HPV

Activision Blizzard has laid off 800 employees after “weaker than anticipated retail demand” though they made $7.26B in 2018, a $100M increase over 2017 and the best in Activision history

• Who knows what things will look like next year after their CFO Dennis Durkin announced that they aren’t releasing any titles beyond Diablo Mobile in 2019
• The worst part is how this is exclusively affecting lower-level employees- all the high-paid executives continue to make money hand over fist
  • Compare this to when Nintendo was operating at a loss for months after the release of the WiiU and then-president Satoru Iwata cut his salary in half, along with other executives taking 20-30% pay cuts
  • Accountability needs to start at the top, and that is so rarely seen in large corporations nowadays

Apple is being sued this month because, in the class action filing, people claim 2FA takes too long

• The suit complains that it takes too much time out of a users day, and says its abusive because it can’t be removed after it’s been on for two weeks
• It goes on to say that the login process pops up randomly (it doesn’t), that it takes 2-5 minutes (more like 20 seconds), that it’s a violation of California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (how?)
• It demands, among other things, “all funds, revenues, and benefits” that Apple has “unjustly received”, but doesn’t list exactly what those might be

Respawn’s new game is here, and it’s definitely not Titanfall 3

• Called Apex Legends, it’s a class-based free-to-play battle royale on PC, XBone, and PS4 with some polarized reviews
  • Fans of the Battle Royale genre think it’s great, with a lot of quality of life improvements that make it more friendly to new players than competitors, while people who were waiting for Titanfall 3 miss core gameplay like wall-running, slide-hopping, and of course Titans
  • It even includes features that allow you to avoid the voice chat- characters are chosen via round-robin, your drop point is set by a random teammate, and you can ping pretty much anything to alert your team about it or suggest an alternate route with “smart comms” in-game dialogue
    • According to their twitter, they tested the game for a month with no mics and randomized names to refine how it feels
• Many people are impressed with the representation shown, with a range of races, genders, and sexual preferences included among the 8 characters
  • If nothing else, they’ve definitely knocked the playable characters out of the park. The trailer looks great, with solid personalities, and you can even play a Marvin!
• Though many were expecting news about Titanfall 3 when this was announced, and Respawn CEO Vince Zampella has tweeted that there will be more Titanfall later this year, developers have gone on record saying that Titanfall 3 is not in development
  • Apparently they’re focusing on Apex Legends and the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
    • Maybe EA will let their studios finish a SW game this time?
• Not to mention, EA is also releasing Anthem later this month. Time will tell if the games will cannibalize each other’s audiences
• Either way it looks like a solid competitor in the Battle Royale arena, and if nothing else has sparked a ton of renewed interest in Titanfall 2

Nintendo Direct

• Super Mario Maker 2 is coming to the Switch this June
  • This one really seems like a layup, in the usual Nintendo “It prints money!” style
  • It’ll be cool to see what fresh new hells people come up with, and with some art showing Luigi in a construction outfit maybe co-op is in our future?
• BoxBoy and BoxGirl is coming April 26th
  • Followup to the acclaimed 3DS puzzle platform series BoxBoy, it brings co-op and a total of 270 levels to the Switch
• Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age — Definitive Edition hits this fall
  • Remaster of 2017’s PS4 and 3DS JRPG, it’s adding some new character-specific stories and a 16-bit-inspired graphics mode, alongside an optional fully orchestrated soundtrack that you can switch to on the fly
• We’ll also see Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order on the Switch this summer
  • Team Ninja is bringing us the latest instalment of the ensemble action RPG series, featuring online and local play with up to four Switches
• Yoshi’s Crafted World is getting a demo release today ahead of its March 29 release
• We’re also getting a brand-new Fire Emblem on July 26th
  • Called Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it stars a customizable mercenary you can name and customize
  • It’ll also be the first Fire Emblem for over a decade that isn’t exclusive to handheld systems, technically
• Square Enix is bringing a brand new action-RPG to the Switch this summer as well, called Oninaki
  • It has you traveling between the realms of life and death to save lost souls from turning into monsters
• Deltarune: Chapter 1, the follow-up to Undertale, will be available for free on Feb 28th
• Platinum Games is back at it again this August with a new title called Astral Chain, which looks like if Warframe and anime had a pretty badass lovechild
  • And of course it’s Platinum, so expect glorious over the top action fights
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is hitting the Switch this spring
  • This is a pretty crazy one I’ve had my eye on- originally released in 2017, it’s the story of a Celtic warrior with a severe mental illness who travels to Viking hell to rescue her lost lover
  • Apparently it was developed with a group of neural scientists to get a blend of psychological terror and an enlightening experience
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is getting a full 3D reimagining on the Switch this year
  • It looks like they’re using an entirely new toy-like art style, instead of repurposing the recent Zelda games for the 3DS
  • Apparently it’s one of the few Zelda games set outside of Hyrule, and actually has links to the Mario universe
  • It looks pretty cool, and if my Twitter is any indication people love it, so I might have to check it out
• Final Fantasy 9 is out on Switch today, and 7 will be here on March 26th
  • Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2 are coming on April 16th, and later this year we’ll also see 12: The Zodiac Age
  • Considering this week was the 20th anniversary of FF8, I’m kind bummed it didn’t get a mention
• Tetris Battle Royale is apparently a thing, and available today for free
  • Just like most other battle royale games, this is a competitive online multiplayer game pitting 99 people against eachother in a fight to be the last player standing
• And Dragon Quest Builders 2 is coming to Switch and PS4 on July 12th
  • This one adds online multiplayer to the 2016 Builders formula, as well as larger structures, improved travel, and farming

Tidbits

• Upcoming Amiibo Releases
• Feb 15
  • King K Rool
  • Ice Climbers
  • Piranha Plant

• April 4
  • Specter Knight
  • Plague Knight
  • King Knight

• April 12
  • Young Link
  • Daisy
  • Ken

• TBD 2019
  • Snake
  • Simon
  • Isabelle
  • PKMN Trainer
  • Squirtle
  • Ivysaur

• Sprint is officially suing AT&T over their deceptive 5G E rebranding of existing 4G cell networks
  • Sprint says it’s false advertising, and AT&T says that their rivals are just frustrated and they “have now occupied beachfront real estate in [their] competitors’ heads”
• The sixth Terminator movie is now officially called Terminator: Dark Fate
  • Apparently it’ll be a partial reboot, ignoring pretty much everything after T2: Judgement Day, calling it a bad dream or an alternate timeline
• Apple has released updates for iOS and macOS addressing the FaceTime spy bug, and group FaceTime will remain disabled for the previous versions

Recommend Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios

• Billed as a series that marries the magical realism and folklore of Sandman with the western brutality of Preacher
• It’s a fantastic story with lush, beautiful visuals
• Might be a little challenging to follow if you try to rush through, but it’s 100% worth taking your time and savouring every last panel

Bad Description of Movies and Games

With the aid of narcotics, a man viciously assaults anyone in his way to make it to his abducted girlfriend.

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our ‘fanily’ that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!

Also, make sure to check out RIPT Apparel for sweet 24 tee shirt designs. And don’t forget to use the coupon code PS2JSHOW for 10% off!

We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB

And talk to us in the comments!
Or…

Discord Server
Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow
Facebook